Raichur Trip Day 1: Naradagadde, Gabbur, Googal & Raichur Fort

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Overview: We started our day at Raichur at around 7:30am and had our breakfast near the Railway station road. We then headed towards our first destination- Naradagadde.

Naradagadde is an island village near Kuruvakala village in the Raichur taluk of Raichur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Legend has it that Lord Narada performed penance in Naradagadde.

The island is surrounded by Krishna River which flows through one side in Karnataka and other side partly Karnataka and Telangana. To reach the temple from Karnataka one has to take roadways from Raichur. The road culminates at the banks of the Krishna River. To reach the temple one has to board the coracle which is also called as "parisal" which is a man-made small boat.

After crossing the river through Coracle one has to get down on the island and walk for nearly a kilometer to reach the temple. The passage is a mud road with some electrical lamp posts which shall guide us to the temple entrance.

Our next stop will be Mailabad Fort, which is known for its giagantic Elephant statues which were discovered by the archaeologists. The Malliabad fort is important in the history of Raichur and North Karnataka. A ruined Vishnu temple and a pair of life sized elephants carved in white granite are located in the fort, the State Department of Archaeology declared as a protected historical monument. The fort was built during the 13th Century (1294 A.D) by the Kakatiyas of Warangal and also associated with the Vijayanagar Empire. In 1520 A.D.Krishnadevaraya stayed here along with his army during the Battle of Raichur against Adilshahis.

Two life sized elephants carved in white granite were found in the Malliabad Fort and these are under the supervision of Government authorities. The elephants are from the period of the Vijayanagar Empire. Initially the elephants were placed in front of the Vishnu temple, and once adorned the gateway of the Malliabad Fort.

We then came back to Raichur city for our lunch. After having local meals at a Khanavali, we proceeded towards our 3rd destination- Mudumal Prehistoric site, but as we entered Chikkasugur, we found out that the road leading to Mudumal is blocked and we had to strike it off from our itinerary. From Chikkasugur we took a deviation and headed next to Gugal. Googal is a village in the Devadurga taluk of Raichur district in Karnataka state, India. Googal is located on the banks of Krishna River. Googal is famous for its cave temple dedicated to Allama Prabhu. Legend has it that Googal derives its name from kooguva kallu (singing stone), rocks that produce sound when river water strikes them.

From here we headed to Gabbur, which is known for ancient Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara temple. Gabbur, in Deodurg taluk, has several old temples and inscriptions. In the old days, it was a center of education and was also known as Gopuragrama. The most important of the temples are those of Male-Shankara, Venkateshwara, Ishwara, Bangara Basappa and Hanuman. In addition to these, there are several ruined temples, two or three mathas, a few cisterns and a gateway called the Chandi-gage with a temple on either side of it. The Male-Shankara temple is built of rough grey stone and has a high plinth. The carving in the temple is plain on account of the roughness of the stone. There are two inscriptional tablets at the northern and western entrances and there is a large cistern in front of the temple.

The temple of Venkateshwara consists of three shrines, two of them containing the images of Vishnu and the third a linga. The carving on the outer walls of this temple, representing figures of various deities and animals, are elegent, the figures of elephants being particularly striking. On the eastern side of the temple, there is a large cistern, with beautifully carved masonry steps all round, called Sat baoli or seven cisterns. One of the mathas here is called Ganni Gudi Matha. It has a beautifully carved door. There is a tank, which is now in ruins. The Bangara Basappa temple has a shrine with an image of Ganesha, two Nandis (one is of fairly large in size and the other is a small one) and an inscriptional tablet. Gabbur has enclosure walls round it, which are of different periods and in different states of decay.

It was already late afternoon, and we had Raichur For in our agenda, so we rushed towards the fort. Fortifications have existed since the time of the Chalukyas of Badami ; during the rule of Chalukyas of Kalyani the fort was renovated. The present fort was constructed in 1294 CE during Kakatiya rule. An inscription records that it was built by Raja Vithala by order of Raja Gore Gangaya Raddivaru, minister of Queen Rudramma Devi.

During the rule of Vijayanagara Empire, Krishnadevaraya built the north entrance in celebration of one of his conquests.

This was our last point for the day and before closing, we had delicious Pani Puri at roadside near the lake before winding up for the day.

Naradagadde

Naradagadde

Naradagadde

Naradagadde

Malliabad Fort

Malliabad Fort

Lunch at Khanavali

Chikkasugur

Googal

Googal

Googal

Gabbur

Gabbur

Jaladurga

Mudgal Fort